


Overheat

by sbuggbot



Category: SteamWorld Dig (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Oneshot, Platonic Soulmates, Robot Sickfic, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 10:29:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16217174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbuggbot/pseuds/sbuggbot
Summary: Right away, Rusty could tell that something was wrong. But he felt so hot, he couldn't think clearly enough to figure out what that "something" was on his own.Set in a post-SteamWorld Dig 2 environment, one inspired by Sei-Bellisima's, as a matter of fact.





	Overheat

Rusty woke up and stretched himself out with a little grunt. He didn't feel right. His head hurt and it felt...full. It was a weird feeling and Rusty was no wordsmith. On top of that, he felt way too hot. Sure, his blanket was heavy and it trapped heat like nothing else, but this was ridiculous. He wasn't even under it right now!

He rolled over to check on Dorothy. Still out like a light. Oddly, she wasn't cuddled up to him, just curled up in her own blanket. Usually, she wound up snuggling Rusty in her sleep, leaving him trapped since he couldn't move her without waking her up. But that wasn't the case now, fortunately.

Rusty pushed himself up so he was sitting on the edge of the bed now, a puff of steam leaving his mouth as he sighed. To his surprise, steam kept leaking out of his mouth afterwards. The only way he could make it stop was by physically closing his mouth, but that made the pressure in his head build further. So he let the steam have its way for the time being. He adjusted his hat and shuffled to the washroom, his movements becoming slower and more methodical.

Washed his face off. Cool water made him feel a bit better. Decided to rinse the rest of himself off, too. Clean up and cool off at the same time. Remove head and neckwear, get in shower.

Joints starting to hurt--turn the tap off. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Rub face. Ugh, too much steam in here. Good after a long day of work, but not right now. Too hot.

Put hat back on. Bandana is too warm; just carry it for comfort. Leave washroom. Wake up Dot? Nah, let her sleep for now. Go to kitchen for water. Too hot. Get water. Drink an entire glass. Still too hot. Refill glass. Gotta lay down.

Carry glass to couch. Hands are shaking. There's water all over the floor. No big deal, it’ll evaporate. Flop down facefirst onto couch. Too hot. Should have finished drink before flopping. Too late now, rest of the glass is in pieces on the floor. Can't get up and clean it.

Something's wrong. Vision fading. Can't move. Overheating. Steam pouring out of my mouth. Why my mouth? I got a pipe for a reason.

Gotta call for Dot.

 

Pause.

 

Can't tell if she heard. Call again. Came out quieter this time. Coggarn steam….

 **THUMP.** Was that me or her? Is she coming…? Can't tell.

Can't think, too hot.

 

Nn _ggghhhh…_

* * *

The first thing Rusty noticed when he came to was that his hat was missing. Then he recognized the fact that he was on the couch. He didn't feel nearly as hot as he did earlier, and steam was no longer pouring from his mouth, both of which were a relief. Still felt achy and generally off, though. There was a light blanket draped over him.

He finally stirred and opened his eyes, kicking off the blanket. The broken glass on the floor was gone and there was a full one on the table in its place. His hat was there too, right next to the glass. He was still clutching his bandana.

Rusty heard footsteps. Not Dorothy’s though; they sounded like someone bigger than her. So he pretended to still be asleep. He wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone.

“Oh good, you're awake!” The other bot said, eliciting a grumble from Rusty. “Ya scared Dot half to death when you collapsed earlier.”

Seeing that Lola--the other bot--wasn't fooled by his ruse, he reached over and put his hat back on. “Where ‘s she?”

“The poor dear couldn't sit around and wait for you to wake up. You know how she gets when she's nervous--she can't just sit there and do nothing.” Rusty nodded at that; Dorothy was a restless bot by nature.  “A while after she cleared some of your vents, I told her to go get some space ‘cause she was about to drive herself crazy.” ‘Told’ might have been an understatement; Lola had to practically carry Dorothy outside and force the smaller bot to take a break from the situation before she broke down too.

“Cleared m’ vents?” Rusty asked, a bit blearily.

Lola nodded. “From the looks of it, most’a your vents have been blocked up for a while now. I'm guessing you didn't notice because your pipe was still workin’.”

Rusty immediately reached behind him to feel for his pipe, initially pulling away a cold, damp cloth Dorothy had undoubtedly put over his shoulders. His pipe was still there, but it felt cold. It was his main heat sink, so it should’ve been warm to the touch. “‘s prob’ly blocked, too,” he mumbled.

“That's what Dot was thinkin’, but she couldn't find anything when she looked in there and she doesn't know enough ‘bout pipes to do anything deeper.”

There was the sound of the front entrance opening, and Lola went over to help whoever was there. Rusty could hear enough to figure out that Dorothy was back and talking with Lola, but he couldn't make out what either of them was saying. The door opened and closed again. Lola must have left. Then there were Dorothy’s footsteps, approaching fast.

She rushed over and crouched down next to him. Dot checked his temperature as she asked him if he felt any better. He gave a little nod in reply. “Still don' feel right, though. ‘s too hot an’ I hurt.”

Dorothy absorbed this with a little _hmmm_ and asked, “Your pipe botherin’ you at all?”

He shook his head. “Didn't realize anything was wrong with it ‘till Lola pointed it out.” All he felt were side effects from his pipe being blocked--nothing from the pipe itself. Must have shut down when it stopped working. He still flinched away when Dorothy reached out to prod at it. He grunted and tried to push himself up into a sitting position. His arms trembled under the strain.

“Oh! Careful, Rusty.” Dorothy held out her arms and guided him upright. “Your vents are cleaned out, but you're still gonna get too hot if you do too much.”

Rusty nodded, steam rolling out of his vents. He considered putting his bandana back on at this point but decided against it for now. It would probably get soaked by his usually-unneeded neck vents. He wound it around his hand comfortably-tight, in a way that let him rub the soft cloth with his thumb.

Dorothy sat down next to him and he leaned against her with a contented little sigh. He wasn't a very touchy-feely bot, but he always loved cuddling with Dorothy. Especially when he was upset. She put an arm around his shoulders. “You want some water?”

“Mm-mmm.” He shook his head and curled into her further. Right now, Rusty just wanted a cuddle. So they cuddled for a little while, Dorothy making sure she didn't hold him too close. She didn't want to accidentally smother him and make him overheat again.

“Alright, it's time for you to drink something,” Dorothy said after a while. “You're steamin’ up a storm.” She sat up and retrieved the drink from the table, holding it out for Rusty. To both of their dismay, his hands were shaking much too hard to hold the glass, let alone drink from it. After Rusty accidentally spilled water all over himself and Dorothy a couple times, Dorothy took the glass back. Rusty was starting to get agitated by his lack of motor control.

“Let's try something else,” she said softly. She refilled the glass and held it closer to him. “I'll help you hold it, ok?” Rusty grumbled but agreed.

It turned out that having Dorothy there to hold the glass steady was enough for Rusty to be able to guide the glass to his mouth to drink out of it. He relaxed as the cool water splashed down his throat and filled his boiler. He wasn't sure if his temperature had actually fallen, but Rusty sure as heck _felt_ a lot cooler.

He stretched his limbs out before settling back against Dorothy. “Where'd Lola go?” he asked softly.

“She offered to get in touch with a mechanic that’s better with pipes than I am,” she said. “That way I could focus on takin’ care of you.”

Rusty’s expression crumpled. “But you're sorta a mechanic.”

“I'm not an expert, though. I just know some fairly basic stuff. I couldn't see what was wrong with your pipe when I looked in there, and I don't have the tools to look deeper or pull anything out of there. We gotta visit someone who can.”

He grumbled at that prospect; he hated having things snaked down his pipe. Or just having his pipe messed with in general.  Obviously Rusty needed it in this situation, but that wasn't going to stop him from dreading it.

He shuddered at the memory of That Shiner poking and prodding at him as she tinkered with her giant mech suit. The mech suit that he was trapped in. The mech suit that he was the unwilling power source for. The mech suit that he was going to die in, or so he had thought for several long weeks. If Dorothy hadn't found him sooner--

“Rusty? Rusty, what's wrong?”

Dorothy's voice snapped him out of his rumination. He raised his bandana to his cheek in an attempt to ground himself and let out a low hum. That nightmare of an experience was over with, but it still haunted him.

Dorothy, sensing what was going on in Rusty's mind, pulled him closer and gently clasped his free hand. “I'm here now,” she murmured, squeezing his hand. “I got you.”

He gave a shuddery little breath, holding onto Dorothy's hand like the lifeline that it was. Rusty could never find the words to express his gratitude for Dorothy. For not only saving his life but for being there for him afterward. “Thank you, Dot...so much,” was the best he managed at this moment.

“It's not a problem,” she replied, stroking his hand with her thumb. “You should rest some.” Rusty clumsily rubbed his eyes but didn’t argue with her. Dorothy disentangled herself from Rusty and let him lay back down. She tried putting the blanket over him as he settled in.

“’m not feverish, Dot, ’m just hot,” he grumbled, already trying to kick the blanket away.

“Sorry.” She slung the blanket over her arm so she could put it away later.

Dot remembered when he got sick, not long after she had rescued him. Rusty had wanted to bury himself under all the blankets in the house back then. “You want anything else?”

He shook his head and sprawled himself out further on the couch. “Jus’ gonna try to sleep.”

“Alright,” Dorothy said, patting his back and letting him be for now. She had come up with a mental list of things she could do around their house without pestering Rusty while she was on her Lola-mandated walk.

It wasn’t too long before Dorothy could hear Rusty snoring in the other room. She peeked in on him, her faceplates shifting to form a small smile at how peaceful he looked. He’d been pretty restless the previous night. With a calm little sigh, Dorothy went back to reorganizing the shelves, not necessarily because they needed to be but to keep her busy until Lola got back to her.

**Author's Note:**

> Y'know, I spend weeks or sometimes months daydreaming about some scenario and never write it down, and other times I get an idea and spend a Friday afternoon and all of Saturday writing it down.


End file.
